NPR or, National Public Radio, is, as stated by themselves is, “an internationally acclaimed producer and distributor of noncommercial news, talk, and entertainment programming” (http://www.npr.org/about/) . NPR is a collection of radio stations across the country with, as they say, an incredibly diverse array of programs that reaches an audience of some 26.4 million listeners weekly. NPR can be found locally on FM channel 90.9 for those interested in tuning in.
What are some of NPR's programs about the news and/or politics?
(Each program name will be followed by a recent example of their reporting)
There are quite a few varying perspectives on whether NPR is biased or not, and even which way it is biased.
NPR is traditionally seen as a liberal radio station, which earned NPR its nickname "National Pinko Radio" among a few conservatives. On the other hand, NPR was accused of having a conservative bias by supporting the Iraq war in 2005 (Arnove). NPR is not intended to hold a bias towards left or right-wing, and will often dispute allegations of bias via their Ombudmen and press releases. NPR is even known to air listener comments and complaints about their bias, something that most biased media sources rarely attempt.
So, in the interests of the reader, rather than expressing our opinion, we will present as many views as possible and allow the reader to decide for himself or herself.
(The following views are organized from highest down to lowest in terms of reliability of the source, with the exception of NPR's own viewpoint, which comes last due to it's questionability as to whether an organization can evaluate it's own bias).
CPB Liberal Bias Study Flawed, Critics Say
According to various critics, the consultant whose report accused NPR of being biased, the one hired by Kenneth Tomlinson, is, ironically, full of bias and also riddled with errors. According to Frederick Mann, the accuser, examined NPR's programs as being either, "liberal", "conservative", or "neutral" and the guests as being, "pro-Bush", "anti-Bush", "pro-administration", or "anti-administration". Mann claimed that, for example the show "Now" was rife with liberals, with 92 out of 132 examined segments being against administration policy. He also claimed that liberal guests on one program outweighed conservation guests, 22 to 5. Recent critics though have questioned Mann's findings since he neglected to label the criteria that determined what category a person fell under. These established critics, such as the president of NPR and other hosts of shows, say the study must be disregarded due to its lack of detail. Some of the accused liberals, among who were a few coworkers of the author, were appalled at the accusation saying it is their ultimate responsibility to speak for both sides, or take no opinion on the issue.
First of all, one must look at this article simply as a report on the present issue, and not a defensive on the credibility of other Washington Post authors. Then should take into account the esteemed journalism found in the Washington Post and thus come to the conclusion as to whether Mann's study says NPR has a bias or not.
How Public is Public Radio?
This study by Fair: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting investigated whether or not NPR is voicing all opinions, or if they are biased to a certain party. What the study found was that on 4 of NPR's programs (All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Weekend Edition Saturday, and Weekend Edition Sunday, examined from May through August of 2003) was that "Elite sources", a term encompassing "government officials, professional experts and corporate representatives", was accountable for 64% of all sources. The study also found that "workers, students, the general public, and representatives of organized citizen and public interest groups" made up 31% of all sources. This number may seem low, however, the study showed this number was up 14% since 1993. The study continued by say that women were drastically unrepresented by a 5 to 1 ratio against men on NPR. The investigation did offer a possible explanation noting that women are far outnumbered in the jobs contained in NPR's "elite sources". The inquiry followed this by asking whether NPR had a liberal bias. The study found that actually, republicans outnumbered democrats by about 3 to 2. This shocking fact to some, however, may be explained by the fact that the GOP currently controls the presidency and the Congress. Lastly, the study investigated NPR's think tanks, finding that ideologists that identified themselves as right outnumbered left ideologists by a staggering 62 to 15, with centrists having some 56 appearances.
These numbers seem to match up with other sources we've found so, one can look at the statistics provided by the study and take the information as they choose.
CPB-Commissioned National Opinion Polls
The Tarrance Group and Lake Snell Perry & Associates undertook two nationwide public opinion surveys for the CPB, one in July 2003 and one in November 2002. The goal of these studies was to find out exactly how many people believed there to be bias in the reporting on public television and on public radio.
The study found that, “The majority of the U.S. adult population does not believe that the news and information programming on public broadcasting is biased. The plurality of Americans indicate that there is no apparent bias one way or the other, while approximately one-in-five detect a liberal bias and approximately one-in-ten detect a conservative bias.” The article continues to show various statistical results, many of which show that the great majority of people interviewed believe there to be no bias one way or the other in NPR’s reporting.
The only thing that could be debated on these statistics is the amount and diversity of the people interviewed, otherwise the report is most likely accurate and will be quite helpful for a reader to determine whether or not they believe NPR has a bias.
Targeting NPR
This article from the Boston Phoenix examines what Kenneth Tomlinson is attempting to do to NPR. The author, Dan Kennedy, speaks about Kenneth Tomlinson making claims about NPR having a bias, and proceeds to explain there is really no merit to this claim, in that NPR broadcasts numerous viewpoints. The writer then continues by citing a set of polls conducted for the CPB that show that only “22% of respondents believe NPR’s news coverage betrays a liberal bias – considerably less than the 31% who say the same about three major broadcast networks and CNN”. Also, 9% responded that NPR’s coverage has a conservative bias. Kennedy then continues to quote Andi Sporkin who makes the point that NPR’s audience has been found to be about 1/3 liberal, 1/3 conservative, and 1/3 neither, and that the audience wouldn’t be composed in that way if the listeners thought there was a bias one way or another. Following this, the author expresses his opinion that there is no bias on NPR.
This article looks to be from a respectable source and there are not far-out statistics or comments about the issue so this piece can provide a reader with invaluable information to help him or her decide whether or not NPR has a bias.
NPR's Notrious Right-Wing Bias
Julian Sanchez responds to Duncan Black's comment, which accuses NPR of not using enough liberal sources. Black quotes an NPR ombudsmen who states that NPR cited 239 conservative think tanks and 141 liberal think tanks in 2005, which suggests a right-wing bias.
Sanchez moves to tear apart this claim as it does not fully analyze NPR's bias. He accuses Black of not fully reading the ombudsmen's statement, which follows:
There may be other experts who are interviewed on NPR who present a liberal perspective. But they tend not be based in universities and colleges and are not part of the think tank culture. That seems to be where most conservative thinking on the issues of the day can be most easily found.
Essentially, Sanchez points out that think tanks are mostly affiliated with conservative viewpoints, while college professors are more likely to hold liberal stances. Sanchez says that in order to fully analyze the bias of NPR, one must consider both the think tank and college spectrum of cited sources.
Kenneth Tomlinson Quits Public Broadcasting Board This article from the Washington Post describes Kenneth Tomlinson's resignation, a very staunch conservative who held a position on the the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Tomlinson accused the board of holding a liberal bias, although this may have been his opinion formed by his own conservative bias.
Despite Tomlinson's claims, the CPB still had a firm conservative majority in 2005, including the new chairman Cheryl F. Halpern, a strong supporter of republicans. Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (N.D.) said Tomlinson's resignation "comes as welcome news," and "There's no doubt in my mind that Mr. Tomlinson's legacy at CPB is a negative one and that he has done far more harm to the CPB than good." While the CPB did lose a very right-wing chairman, it still has a conservative majority and likely supports public radio and television that prioritizes or at least fairly addresses conservative views.
Media Bias on NPR
In this particular article NPR analyzes its own bias. Dvorkin writes about various views on NPR's bias, quoting from many viewers who claim to hear bias in NPR programs.
Specifically, one listener Sam Johnson told NPR " I think you have one-sided news, but I listen." Many listeners tend to perceive biased views on NPR's part, but NPR's willingness to present these comments to other listeners can mean one of two things. Either NPR is aware of their bias and accepts it, or they are actively trying to fix it by showing listeners that NPR listens to comments on programming. Another NPR listener, Margaret Davis, says: What is happening to NPR? I'm detecting a subtle change in programming direction. Less hard news, soft-pedaling this administration's decision-making, the introduction of religion, more 'light' subjects which I can get on afternoon TV if that's what I am reduced to, and on and on...
My deep interest in NPR has always been its wonderful source of hard INFORMATION. It's all we have! Please don't introduce so much 'filler' stuff. We have become so isolated from what is really happening worldwide... We need to know this, and we certainly won't get it from the right-wing corporate radio stations pounding at us nationwide.
Davis accuses NPR of shifting towards "light subjects which [she] can get on afternoon TV", which is opposes NPR's image as a "hard facts" news station.
Dvorkin, who is not one of NPR's two ombudmen, presents listener criticism and analyzes how factual it is. This shows that NPR is striving for an unbiased stance, or at least conscious of bias and the role it plays in the media.
In closing:
Here are three recent NPR stories, one podcast and two articles. Given the preceding readings and your created opinion from them, why don't you listen to/read these stories and see if you hear a bias them.
Rendall, Steve, and Daniel Butterworth. "How Public Is Public Radio?." fair.org. FAIR: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, N.p., May/June 2004. Web. 20 Apr 2010. <http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1180>.
National Public Radio
What is NPR? http://www.npr.org/
NPR or, National Public Radio, is, as stated by themselves is, “an internationally acclaimed producer and distributor of noncommercial news, talk, and entertainment programming” (http://www.npr.org/about/) . NPR is a collection of radio stations across the country with, as they say, an incredibly diverse array of programs that reaches an audience of some 26.4 million listeners weekly. NPR can be found locally on FM channel 90.9 for those interested in tuning in.What are some of NPR's programs about the news and/or politics?
(Each program name will be followed by a recent example of their reporting)Is NPR's reporting biased?
There are quite a few varying perspectives on whether NPR is biased or not, and even which way it is biased.NPR is traditionally seen as a liberal radio station, which earned NPR its nickname "National Pinko Radio" among a few conservatives. On the other hand, NPR was accused of having a conservative bias by supporting the Iraq war in 2005 (Arnove). NPR is not intended to hold a bias towards left or right-wing, and will often dispute allegations of bias via their Ombudmen and press releases. NPR is even known to air listener comments and complaints about their bias, something that most biased media sources rarely attempt.
So, in the interests of the reader, rather than expressing our opinion, we will present as many views as possible and allow the reader to decide for himself or herself.
(The following views are organized from highest down to lowest in terms of reliability of the source, with the exception of NPR's own viewpoint, which comes last due to it's questionability as to whether an organization can evaluate it's own bias).
CPB Liberal Bias Study Flawed, Critics Say
According to various critics, the consultant whose report accused NPR of being biased, the one hired by Kenneth Tomlinson, is, ironically, full of bias and also riddled with errors. According to Frederick Mann, the accuser, examined NPR's programs as being either, "liberal", "conservative", or "neutral" and the guests as being, "pro-Bush", "anti-Bush", "pro-administration", or "anti-administration". Mann claimed that, for example the show "Now" was rife with liberals, with 92 out of 132 examined segments being against administration policy. He also claimed that liberal guests on one program outweighed conservation guests, 22 to 5. Recent critics though have questioned Mann's findings since he neglected to label the criteria that determined what category a person fell under. These established critics, such as the president of NPR and other hosts of shows, say the study must be disregarded due to its lack of detail. Some of the accused liberals, among who were a few coworkers of the author, were appalled at the accusation saying it is their ultimate responsibility to speak for both sides, or take no opinion on the issue.
First of all, one must look at this article simply as a report on the present issue, and not a defensive on the credibility of other Washington Post authors. Then should take into account the esteemed journalism found in the Washington Post and thus come to the conclusion as to whether Mann's study says NPR has a bias or not.
How Public is Public Radio?
This study by Fair: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting investigated whether or not NPR is voicing all opinions, or if they are biased to a certain party. What the study found was that on 4 of NPR's programs (All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Weekend Edition Saturday, and Weekend Edition Sunday, examined from May through August of 2003) was that "Elite sources", a term encompassing "government officials, professional experts and corporate representatives", was accountable for 64% of all sources. The study also found that "workers, students, the general public, and representatives of organized citizen and public interest groups" made up 31% of all sources. This number may seem low, however, the study showed this number was up 14% since 1993. The study continued by say that women were drastically unrepresented by a 5 to 1 ratio against men on NPR. The investigation did offer a possible explanation noting that women are far outnumbered in the jobs contained in NPR's "elite sources". The inquiry followed this by asking whether NPR had a liberal bias. The study found that actually, republicans outnumbered democrats by about 3 to 2. This shocking fact to some, however, may be explained by the fact that the GOP currently controls the presidency and the Congress. Lastly, the study investigated NPR's think tanks, finding that ideologists that identified themselves as right outnumbered left ideologists by a staggering 62 to 15, with centrists having some 56 appearances.
These numbers seem to match up with other sources we've found so, one can look at the statistics provided by the study and take the information as they choose.
CPB-Commissioned National Opinion Polls
The Tarrance Group and Lake Snell Perry & Associates undertook two nationwide public opinion surveys for the CPB, one in July 2003 and one in November 2002. The goal of these studies was to find out exactly how many people believed there to be bias in the reporting on public television and on public radio.
The study found that, “The majority of the U.S. adult population does not believe that the news and information programming on public broadcasting is biased. The plurality of Americans indicate that there is no apparent bias one way or the other, while approximately one-in-five detect a liberal bias and approximately one-in-ten detect a conservative bias.” The article continues to show various statistical results, many of which show that the great majority of people interviewed believe there to be no bias one way or the other in NPR’s reporting.
The only thing that could be debated on these statistics is the amount and diversity of the people interviewed, otherwise the report is most likely accurate and will be quite helpful for a reader to determine whether or not they believe NPR has a bias.
Targeting NPR
This article from the Boston Phoenix examines what Kenneth Tomlinson is attempting to do to NPR. The author, Dan Kennedy, speaks about Kenneth Tomlinson making claims about NPR having a bias, and proceeds to explain there is really no merit to this claim, in that NPR broadcasts numerous viewpoints. The writer then continues by citing a set of polls conducted for the CPB that show that only “22% of respondents believe NPR’s news coverage betrays a liberal bias – considerably less than the 31% who say the same about three major broadcast networks and CNN”. Also, 9% responded that NPR’s coverage has a conservative bias. Kennedy then continues to quote Andi Sporkin who makes the point that NPR’s audience has been found to be about 1/3 liberal, 1/3 conservative, and 1/3 neither, and that the audience wouldn’t be composed in that way if the listeners thought there was a bias one way or another. Following this, the author expresses his opinion that there is no bias on NPR.
This article looks to be from a respectable source and there are not far-out statistics or comments about the issue so this piece can provide a reader with invaluable information to help him or her decide whether or not NPR has a bias.
NPR's Notrious Right-Wing Bias
Julian Sanchez responds to Duncan Black's comment, which accuses NPR of not using enough liberal sources. Black quotes an NPR ombudsmen who states that NPR cited 239 conservative think tanks and 141 liberal think tanks in 2005, which suggests a right-wing bias.
Sanchez moves to tear apart this claim as it does not fully analyze NPR's bias. He accuses Black of not fully reading the ombudsmen's statement, which follows:
Essentially, Sanchez points out that think tanks are mostly affiliated with conservative viewpoints, while college professors are more likely to hold liberal stances. Sanchez says that in order to fully analyze the bias of NPR, one must consider both the think tank and college spectrum of cited sources.
Kenneth Tomlinson Quits Public Broadcasting Board
This article from the Washington Post describes Kenneth Tomlinson's resignation, a very staunch conservative who held a position on the the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Tomlinson accused the board of holding a liberal bias, although this may have been his opinion formed by his own conservative bias.
Despite Tomlinson's claims, the CPB still had a firm conservative majority in 2005, including the new chairman Cheryl F. Halpern, a strong supporter of republicans. Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (N.D.) said Tomlinson's resignation "comes as welcome news," and "There's no doubt in my mind that Mr. Tomlinson's legacy at CPB is a negative one and that he has done far more harm to the CPB than good." While the CPB did lose a very right-wing chairman, it still has a conservative majority and likely supports public radio and television that prioritizes or at least fairly addresses conservative views.
Media Bias on NPR
In this particular article NPR analyzes its own bias. Dvorkin writes about various views on NPR's bias, quoting from many viewers who claim to hear bias in NPR programs.
Specifically, one listener Sam Johnson told NPR " I think you have one-sided news, but I listen." Many listeners tend to perceive biased views on NPR's part, but NPR's willingness to present these comments to other listeners can mean one of two things. Either NPR is aware of their bias and accepts it, or they are actively trying to fix it by showing listeners that NPR listens to comments on programming. Another NPR listener, Margaret Davis, says:
What is happening to NPR? I'm detecting a subtle change in programming direction. Less hard news, soft-pedaling this administration's decision-making, the introduction of religion, more 'light' subjects which I can get on afternoon TV if that's what I am reduced to, and on and on...
My deep interest in NPR has always been its wonderful source of hard INFORMATION. It's all we have! Please don't introduce so much 'filler' stuff. We have become so isolated from what is really happening worldwide... We need to know this, and we certainly won't get it from the right-wing corporate radio stations pounding at us nationwide.
Davis accuses NPR of shifting towards "light subjects which [she] can get on afternoon TV", which is opposes NPR's image as a "hard facts" news station.
Dvorkin, who is not one of NPR's two ombudmen, presents listener criticism and analyzes how factual it is. This shows that NPR is striving for an unbiased stance, or at least conscious of bias and the role it plays in the media.
In closing:
Here are three recent NPR stories, one podcast and two articles. Given the preceding readings and your created opinion from them, why don't you listen to/read these stories and see if you hear a bias them.http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=125737588&m=125734723
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125917175
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126022349
Bibliography:
Arnove, Anthony. "Pro-war Propaganda Machine." Znet. Znet, 19 Mar 2003. Web. 22 Apr 2010. <http://www.zcommunications.org/pro-war-propaganda-machine-by-anthony-arnove>.
"CPB-Commissioned National Opinion Polls." cpb.org. Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Dec 2003. Web. 20 Apr 2010. <http://www.cpb.org/aboutcpb/goals/objectivity/pollsummary.html>.
Dvorkin, Jeffery. "Media Bias on NPR -- It Seems Obvious to Some." National Public Radio. Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 21 Jun 2005. Web. 21 Apr 2010. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4712584>.
Farhi, Paul. "CPB Liberal Bias Study Flawed, Critics Say." washingtonpost.com. Washington Post Company, 01 Jul 2005. Web. 20 Apr 2010. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/30/AR2005063002029.html>.
Farhi, Paul. "Kenneth Tomlinson Quits Public Broadcasting Board." washingtonpost.com. Washington Post, 04 Nov 2005. Web. 21 Apr 2010. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/03/AR2005110302235.html>.
Kennedy, Dan. "Targeting NPR." Boston Pheonix Jun.3-9 (2005): n. pag. Web. 20 Apr 2010. <http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/dont_quote_me/multi-page/documents/04731986.asp>.
Rendall, Steve, and Daniel Butterworth. "How Public Is Public Radio?." fair.org. FAIR: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, N.p., May/June 2004. Web. 20 Apr 2010. <http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1180>.
Sanchez, Julian. "NPR's Notrious Right-Wing Bias." Reason: Hit & Run. Reason Magazine, 15 Dec 2005. Web. 20 Apr 2010. <http://reason.com/blog/2005/12/15/nprs-notrious-right-wing-bias>.